New boss at GE. It will be interesting to see what happens, the corporation hasn't been doing very well I read.
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GE's profits are off a bit, but they are so invested in many sectors, they are still making lots and lots of money. They sold off their appliance unit about a year ago and sold the division that made their light bulbs recently as well. GE has always had good management, and as Jeff Imelt stated, "16 years is a long time for anyone at a company. Change is good."
A new broom sweeps clean tis said. GE isn't one of Wall Streets top performers. Not an investor-iust commenting Time will tell.
I do not trust WS wisdom. I was taught that one wanted stock in a company which produced dividends. Now that metric is out the window. In fact it seems the only metrics are based on feelings. I have a feeling a repeat of 29 is around the corner.
What does this have to do with trains?
They make diesel engines. GM-EMD went through a similar event.
We have discussed GE before. They closed the (electric diesel unit) edit plant, Erie, PA., but continue to operate the facility Grove City PA. They made a move to Texas as part of the Erie close.
In today's corporate world,making a profit isn't enough - it has to add value to the stock which hasn't happened in GEs case. These big high rollers are playing Monopoly real time.
GE is still the top producing locomotive company. Considering they were only a 'bit player'. in the late 1950's, it's quite impressive. EMD is still trying to field an environmentally compliant loco, GE never skipped a beat. With the downturn in coal and oil traffic, railroads aren't buying as many locos as they were as recently at 6-8 years ago, so both firms are hurting in this market.
Mike CT posted:We have discussed GE before. They closed the electromotive plant, Erie, PA.,
Hopefully you mean they closed the "locomotive" plant in Erie. Remember, "electromotive (sic)" was part of General Motors and NOT GE.
but continue to operate the facility Grove City PA.
The Grove City facility is their diesel engine manufacturing plant.
They made a move to Texas as part of the Erie close.
Across the street from the Grove City, PA, facility was a Lezzers home/construction builder's supply that closed. Signs on the door indicated the buildings were being maintained by GE. Possibility that GE planned expansion of the engine/retro fit, (hi-tech) part of their business.
Keep in mind, GE is huge, and does business in many different directions. Parent company of NBC. I think.
Regarding GE, Ronald Reagan used to say, "Progress is our most important product"
GE's history regarding axing employees and shutting unionized facilities, (ie. Erie PA and before that Syracuse, NY and more)
reveals that Corporate Greed at the expense of its workers and the places that supported GE with blood, sweat, years of loyalty and tax
breaks, etc. have now become its "most important product".... modern times???? ...
As an example of what goes on today, PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) has just sold off their last glass plant, have sold off the basic chemical plants they had. They are concentrating their financial resources in coatings(paints). There is a long list of corporations who have sold off profitable divisions because the top dogs think there is more money in something else or are bored and need something to do. They could care less about the people. personally, with a new CEO I think GE's loco business is vulnerable. Sell it to the Chinese.
To set the record straight, GE has not closed the Erie Plant, and at this time 100% of GE new and remanufactured diesel engines are made (or rebuilt) at Grove City, PA.
What many do not know is that GE has additional locomotive assembly plants around the world, in addition to the one at Erie and the one at fort Worth, TX. Many (or most) of these countries require local manufacture in order to keep their people working.
The US locomotive market is presently in a slump, and a part of this is reduced coal shipments. Other countries' economies are booming, especially China, and a part of that is at our expense.
john in western pa posted:Regarding GE, Ronald Reagan used to say, "Progress is our most important product"
GE's history regarding axing employees and shutting unionized facilities, (ie. Erie PA and before that Syracuse, NY and more)
reveals that Corporate Greed at the expense of its workers and the places that supported GE with blood, sweat, years of loyalty and tax
breaks, etc. have now become its "most important product".... modern times???? ...
I think everybody needs to take a good look at what Labour did in the UK elections. It is possible this could happen here. Just reading tea leaves here.
Actually Immelt has done a pretty good job at GE. He inherited a phony company from the wildly over-hyped Jack Welch, who built most of his success on GE Capital, which proved to be a house of cards. Immelt has been progressively unwinding the financial services activity, to concentrate on what is GE's core: manufacturing of capital goods (like locomotives).
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review has a good article on GE's new India plant to build loco's for India. First I have heard about itt. What is REALLY interesting is that the loco's will meet their pollution standards but be 10-15 years behind Tier 4, ours. Paris Agreement ??
I hear ya Jim! I think we (USA) should join that Paris agreement as soon as everyone else involved with it gets to our already strict standards. Tier 4 emission engines are extremely costly to implement and maintain. These costs are passed on to the consumers.
I know quite a few people who won't buy diesel engines made after 2006 just so they can avoid all of the extra emissions crap that makes them constantly break down or de-rate to an unusable state.
It will be interesting to see how GE evolves with a new guy at the top. Two top executives were being considered for the job - both from the "problematical" GE Capital. I know that part of the corporation made a lot of money and, I would guess, helped finance some loco deals too.
Also interesting that the first photo I saw of the new CEO had a GE locomotive in the background.
GE corporate head quarters is getting out of dodge so to speak or in this case getting out of Connecticut and moving to the Boston area.
superwarp1 posted:GE corporate head quarters is getting out of dodge so to speak or in this case getting out of Connecticut and moving to the Boston area.
Dodge City is in Kansas, of course. But sometimes a new location can bring innovation to the situation. And I think the Silicon Valley of the east is near Boston.
"Jack Welch, who built most of his success on GE Capital, which proved to be a house of cards."
Half of GE income is from finance activity today. They reduced their footprint in that area due to new regulations but it still nets them a bunch of money.
Farmer Bill - interesting, thought Immelt was reducing GE Capital's footprint. Just read on a financial website that GE, and their new CEO, are staring down the barrel of a huge -- HUGE -- $31 Billion pension underfunding. Apparently money that perhaps should have gone to that obligation, went to share price repurchase. Additionally, the interest rate and stock crash of 2008-2009 reduced the inflow of capital into the pension plan, further exacerbating the underfunding. 620,000 current and former employees are anticipating benefits from this plan. This is a huge anchor the company is dragging. The new fellow will earn his money. And, of course, locomotive sales are down.
The fun is just begining !
Farmer Bill - Just found a posting saying that GE was divesting most of GE Capital's assets, as of April 10, 2015. Did not occur?
From Erie to India: GE built a city to fill record-setting locomotive order
BUILDING 1,000 LOCOMOTIVES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVjUUDIyhRY Play time: About one minute
As employees at GE Transportation's Lawrence Park factory near Erie churn out the first locomotives for India, workers in Marhaura, a small town in Bihar, India, are busy building a 500,000-square-foot factory that will build the bulk of the order.
"This is the first time a large manufacturing industry is being created in that state," Nalin Jain, head of GE Transportation in India, said on a video call from India. "We're not only in the business of building locomotives. We are nation-building."
Click here to read more. June 13, 2017
Gary
mark s posted:Farmer Bill - Just found a posting saying that GE was divesting most of GE Capital's assets, as of April 10, 2015. Did not occur?
Hi Mark, this is what GE has to say about that:
"The GE Capital transformation has generated cash and growth. We have exited about $190 billion of business platforms in 2015 and 2016, yielding some $45 billion in dividends3 that we have applied to maximize returns. With our smaller size and balance sheet strength, we are no longer federally regulated as a systemic institution.
This has been an important strategic pivot as well. The “old GE Capital” was connected to our industrial balance sheet, but not really engaged with industrial growth. The “new GE Capital” has tighter alignment and broader objectives. Last year, it enabled $13 billion of industrial orders, earned $1.9 billion, paid a $20 billion dividend, and arranged $50 billion in export credit capacity outside of the U.S."
http://www.ge.com/ar2016/ceo-letter/operation/
About a month ago I read a story on a financial page about CSX and their annual report and how t, double speak and they dodge and weave, tell half truths like the politicians.
mark s posted:Farmer Bill - interesting, thought Immelt was reducing GE Capital's footprint. Just read on a financial website that GE, and their new CEO, are staring down the barrel of a huge -- HUGE -- $31 Billion pension underfunding. Apparently money that perhaps should have gone to that obligation, went to share price repurchase. Additionally, the interest rate and stock crash of 2008-2009 reduced the inflow of capital into the pension plan, further exacerbating the underfunding. 620,000 current and former employees are anticipating benefits from this plan. This is a huge anchor the company is dragging. The new fellow will earn his money. And, of course, locomotive sales are down.
20B would cut the 31B issue by 2/3. A dividend in that situation? Even with new math, this is not logical. Ah! Leave Dodge before you have to sleep in the bed you, er, messed up!
Meet Jeff Immelt / GE CEO / Plans to Retire June, 2017 - Will stay on to August, 2017
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt: Global Perspective | Mad Money | CNBC • Feb. 8, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCCE3d4-g_U
A Quick Look, Assumed Office, September 7, 2001 / Born February 19, 1956 - Cincinnati, Ohio / Alama: Dartmouth College - BA & Harvard University - MBA
To learn more: Click here.
Gary
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Thank you, Farmer Bill.
What with the "business platforms, balance sheet strength, systemic institution, maximize returns, strategic pivot, tighter alignment, broader objectives".....blah, blah, not sure what was actually being said !! Classic corporate speak!
By my recall, "Old" GE Capital was about half the size of GE en toto, so it would appear to have shrunk considerably. If the numbers being quoted tell the story.
The 10 most hated jargon phrases, also called:
“Classic Corporate Speak”
- Touch base offline (let’s meet and talk)
- Blue sky thinking (creative ideas free from practical constraints)
- Punch a puppy (do something detestable but good for the business)
- Thought shower (to come up with several ideas)
- Thinking outside the box (thinking creatively and innovatively)
- It’s on my radar (I’m aware of it)
- Close of play (the end of the day)
- Singing from the same hymn sheet (all in agreement)
- Peel the onion (to examine a problem in detail)
- To wash its own face (to justify or pay for itself)
Source: Telegraph Media Group / Business
Gary
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"Run it up a pole and see if anyone salutes".
Items for the general public should be written in such a way that George Jetson does not need Jane to translate!
jim pastorius posted:In today's corporate world,making a profit isn't enough - it has to add value to the stock which hasn't happened in GEs case. These big high rollers are playing Monopoly real time.
Ok, I am G. Jetson here. Or Bill Clinton. Define Value?
Define "value"? It's a slippy slope... it all depends how you define the word "is" !!!! [Wm. Jefferson Clinton's definition, perhaps.]
